Peripheral devices, such as memory devices, are frequently coupled to a single host, such as a computer. Memory devices are typically provided as internal, semiconductor, integrated circuits in various electronic devices. There are many different types of memory including volatile and non-volatile memory. Volatile memory can require power to maintain its data and includes random-access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), among others. Non-volatile memory can provide persistent data by retaining stored information when not powered and can include NAND flash memory, NOR flash memory, read only memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), and phase change random access memory (PCRAM), among others.
Examples of other peripheral devices include, but are not limited to, printers, scanners, cameras, wireless communication peripherals such as Bluetooth or WiFi devices, external hard drives, etc. One configuration for coupling multiple peripheral devices (e.g., memory and non-memory devices) includes a radial arrangement. Radial configurations have a number of drawbacks, such as increased pin counts required to attach all the peripheral devices. Other multi-drop or multi-bus configurations have been proposed; however, problems exist with these configurations, such as bus contention among connected devices, and unacceptable signal integrity.
Inefficient data flow between and among multiple devices coupled to a host can lead to collisions and/or logjams, which can lead to inefficient bandwidth allocation, among various other problems, in such electronic systems.